A Nigerian full-service fintech and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) infrastructure provider Bloc has announced its acquisition of Getwallets, the wallets-as-a-service provider that has now recently pivoted to become payments orchestration company Orchestrate.
Formed in 2021, Bloc is a fintech infrastructure company that helps any company offer fintech solutions to their customers via an exhaustive set of building blocks – infrastructure, licenses, compliance, and capital – that allows them to increase their value to their stakeholders, be they customers, investors or employees.
Orchestrate, formerly Getwallets, considers itself the fastest way to add new payment methods to fintech products, expand into new markets and provide multiple payment options to customers in Africa – all with little to no code. The startup was also launched in 2021.
The strategic acquisition of Orchestrate will enable Bloc to focus its core product strategy on delivering seamless BaaS and banking services while Orchestrate leads its fintech infrastructure with its proprietary payments orchestration API. The acquisition is a combined cash and equities deal, with Orchestrate remaining a standalone entity led by founder and CEO Jerry Enebeli.
Bloc has processed more than US$30 million in the past year through its bill payments API alone, and recently launched its SuperAgency tool, which allows licensed companies to offer agency banking services. Its acquisition of Orchestrate boosts its capacity to offer fintech infrastructure such as online payments, subscription management, BNPL payment infrastructure, virtual wallets, bill payments and invoicing in its Fintech-as-a-Service suite of APIs.
“We are proud of our input in helping shape the African fintech space and excited to welcome the Orchestrate team into the Bloc family. Part of our vision has always been to empower businesses of all sizes to offer seamless payment solutions to their customers, which is essential not just to the experience of the end user but also to the sector’s growth,” said Edmund Olotu, founder of Bloc.
“Jerry and his team have built an incredible platform that is a great fit with what we were looking to add to our suite of services so it made sense to acquire their proven expertise rather than building our own platform from scratch. This is an exciting evolution for both businesses as we look to grow and build even more solutions that ultimately supports the growth of African tech businesses in the coming years.’’
Enebeli said he was “thrilled” to add Orchestrate’s technology and know-how to the Bloc team.
“It was clear that our business growth goals aligned and that we could mutually benefit from combining our talent, resources and expertise to create a unique infrastructure that can power African fintech. We’re looking forward to working together to close the fragmented gaps in cross-platform payments and powering many more businesses to scale their markets, whether in Africa or globally,” he said.